Butter Oats Chia Seeds Sourdough Bread (No-Knead, Open Crumb)

Course: Bread

Cuisine: European

Prep Time: 6

Cook Time: 1

Cold retard in the fridge:: 15

Total Time: 22

Servings: slices (about 600-gram loaf)

Calories: 171kcal

Author: Marvellina

This is a fantastic small batch sourdough bread that requires no kneading with a wonderfully soft and moist open crumb. The bread tastes and smells wonderful with the addition of butter-toasted oats and chia seeds.

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Equipment

Ingredients

270 gr bread flour (12.7% protein content) 90%
30 gr whole wheat flour 10%
230 gr water 79%
60 gr active starter (100% hydration) 20%
5 gr salt 1.7%

Soaker:

45 gr old-fashion oats
15 gr chia seeds
24 gr salted butter unsalted works too
60 gr water

Instructions

Prepare soaker (preferably the night before):

Put the oats and chia seeds on a pan over medium-low heat. Toast for about 5 minutes or so or until you smell a wonderful toasted smell. Pay attention to the heat so you won't burn them. Then add butter and continue to toast until the oats and chia seeds absorb all the butter. Remove from the heat and pour in 6- grams of water. It will sizzle. Stir to make sure everything is soaked. Let it soak for at least 1 hour or leave it overnight. If leaving it overnight, cover with a cling wrap

Prepare levain (the night before):

I strongly encourage you to have an active starter that is at least one month old before you attempt to bake this recipe. You can try using your young starter that is at least 2-week old, but the result may not be as satisfactory
Since I know I will be baking the next day, I will prepare more starter the night before. I will feed at 1:7:7 ratio so it will last me until the next morning, about 10 hours to double or triple at 75-77 F (24-25C). This also depends on the strength of your starter and the room temperature the starter is at. It may be faster or longer
I use 5 grams starter + 35 grams flour + 35 grams water. I usually prepare a bit more as some may get stuck to the glass jar, spatula, etc.
Remember that you want to use your starter at its peak, meaning it has doubled or tripled when you are ready to use it

Fermentolyse (around 8:00 am):

Weigh 60 grams of starter into a mixing bowl. Feed the starter as per your normal routine. Combine starter, water, and salt and stir to combine. Add bread flour and whole wheat flour to a mixing bowl. If you have a dough whisk, you can use that, otherwise, a sturdy spatula or your hand would work too. Stir to combine into a rough wet dough. The whole process probably take about 3-5 minutes. It is important that there shouldn't be any visible dry bits. All flour needs to be fully hydrated. Cover and let it sit for 1 hour. Maintain dough temperature at 70-72 F (21-22 C) at this stage if possible
If it's really warm where you are, you may want to put it in a cooler bag with a pack of ice. Because the starter is already added at this point, we don't want it to start fermenting way too early before we have a chance to strengthen the dough during bulk fermentation
Bulk fermentation begins when you innoculate starter (adding starter) into the dough. In this case, it starts at this fermentolyse step

Stretch and fold #1 (around 9:00 am):

From this point on, I maintain the temperature a bit warmer, at 75-78 F (24-26C). Please watch the video to see the step-by-step tutorial there. Wet your fingers lightly. Pick up the dough from one of the edges, kinda wiggle it and stretch it up and fold it over. Repeat this throughout the edge of the dough. You may end up with 5-6 stretches
Only stretch as far as the dough allows you too, don't force it. Cover and rest for 15 minutes

Stretch and fold #2 (around 9:15 am):

Do the same stretch and fold again with your slightly wet fingers. You may notice the dough is a bit tighter this round as gluten has developed a bit more. Cover and rest for 15 minutes

Stretch and fold #3 (around 9:30 am):

Do the same stretch and fold again with your slightly wet fingers. You may notice the dough is a bit tighter this round as gluten has developed a bit more. You may only need a few stretches at this point. Don't pull beyond what the dough allows you to. Cover and rest for 30 minutes after that

Lamination (around 10 am):

Lamination is another great technique I like that helps to strengthen the dough during early stage of bulk fermentation. We also need to include the soaker that we've prepared and the best way to do that is via lamination. If you add any "inclusion/addition" such as seeds then it is usually added via lamination
Mist the counter top lightly with some water. Transfer the dough to the counter top and gently but firmly stretch the dough by pulling from the center towards the edge. We try to stretch it thin all around,, but not too thin that you tear the dough. The goal is to stretch it as it allows you to and as evenly as possible. In the end you kinda end up with a thin large rectangle. Pay attention to make sure the edges are not thick
Spread the butter oats mixture evenly and gently all over the surface. Then fold the upper 1/3 to the middle and the lower 1/3 to the middle. Then fold 1/2 or 1/3 from the left and fold again to get a nice package
Transfer the laminated dough to a baking dish or pan, about 9 x 9 inch and spray the container with non-stick spray. You can also use a straight-sided 2-quart container so I can see how much the dough has grown during bulk fermentation
I recommend using a see-through container or bowl to help you gauge how much the dough has risen so you know when to call an end to bulk fermentation. I also mark the container with a marker to see where the level of the dough is. This helps me to roughly gauge how much it has grown. Let the dough rest for 1 hour or until the dough has spread again

Coil fold # 1 (around 11:00 am):

If after 1 hour the dough still seems pretty strong and hasn't spread much, wait another 15 minutes to let it relax and spread more then do a coil fold. Lightly wet your fingers again and tuck your fingers underneath the dough on the side. Lift the dough up gently. Allow the dough to coil and fold over itself
Rotate the container 90 degrees and do the same on the opposite side. After that rotate 45 degrees and do another coil fold and then rotate the container to coil fold the opposite side. So a total of 4 coil folds (one on each side). If the dough seems strong, you can coil fold just 2 sides. You really need to read the dough to see what it tells you and take necessary action. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes

Coil fold #2 (around 11:45 am):

If you dough stretch out before 45 minutes, then you can go ahead and coil fold. You don't have to follow the time rigidly. Pay attention to the dough and act accordingly.
Do a coil fold on all 4 sides or if the dough is not very slack, you can coil fold just 2 sides. If the dough hasn't spread much, wait another 15 minutes and then do the coil fold. Cover and rest for 1 hour

Coil fold #3 (around 12: 45 pm):

You may or may not need the 3rd coil fold. This depends on how extensible the dough is at this point. If the dough still seems slack and does not have much strength, then definitely do coil fold #3. If the dough seems strong and doesn't spread much, you may skip coil fold, or you can just do 2 coil folds instead of 4. Cover and let it continue to bulk ferment
Remember that you need to observe your dough (read the dough not the clock) and do necessary action only if it is needed. This is one of the keys to successful sourdough baking

Let it continue to bulk ferment:

After about 2 hours since the last coil fold, check and see how much the dough has grown. You can also just visually observe how much the dough has grown in size. It should look about 50% puffier than before. Total bulking time from the time the starter is added to this end of bulk fermentation is about 5 1/2-6 hours at 75-78 F (24-26 C). Again, you need to observe the dough, not the clock. It may take longer or faster depending on the temperature

Shape into batard (around 3:00 pm):

I don't do pre-shaping since I only bake one small loaf and the dough usually seems pretty strong after all those stretch and folds and coil folds. I also try not to handle the dough too much near the end of bulk fermentation, to avoid degasing the dough too much
Lightly flour the surface of the dough in the containerTip the container upside down to let the dough gently slide down upside down. Dust the surrounding of the dough with flour. Since I use a square container, the dough will be sort of "squarish". If you use a round container, the dough will be "roundish"
Just use a bench knife to help you stretch the dough out a bit to make it more "squarish". It doesn't have to be a picture-perfect squareUse a bench knife to tuck in the flour underneath the four edges of the dough
Gently fold half of the dough over towards you to the center. Repeat with the opposite half, overlapping the first half. Then roll the dough over from one end to the other. You can feel that the dough is jiggly and full of air
Tuck a bench knife under one side of the dough and push gently to tighten the dough a bit. Seal both ends

Transfer to an oval banneton:

I use an 8-inch oval banneton lined with a cloth. 9-inch banneton would work too. Lightly dust the cloth with rice flour on the bottom and the side of the cloth. Lightly dust the top of the shaped dough. Dust off some excess. Very gently, using the help of the bench scraper to flip the dough onto your palm. So the seam side is facing you now. Gently put the dough into the prepared banneton. The seam side is up. I like to tighten and seal the seam by pulling a bit of the dough from both sides

Cold retard the dough:

Place the dough inside a produce plastic bag and twist the bag and secure with a clip. Any large ziploc bag would work too. Put this inside the coldest part of your fridge. Make sure the fridge is cold enough at 37-38 F (3-4 C). This is important so the dough won't continue to ferment and you end up with an over-proofed dough. Let the dough cold retard for 15-18 hours

Preheating oven:

I bake using a cast-iron dutch oven. 45 minutes before you plan to bake, position one oven rack at the lowest level and then another one rack above it. Place the dutch oven and its lid at the 2nd rack. I keep the pot and the lid separated during preheating. Preheat the oven together with the dutch oven to 485 F (250 C) for 30 minutes
Cut a parchment paper about 2 inches bigger than the size of your banneton. I have a combo cooker Dutch oven, which is nice because I can load the dough with less risk of getting burnt on my arms. If you have a regular Dutch oven pot, you want to cut parchment paper so that it has a "handle" so you can lift the handle and lower the dough into the pot without getting burnt.

Scoring the dough:

When the oven has preheated for 45 minutes, get the dough out from the refrigerator. There is no need to let it come to room temperature.
Place the parchment paper covering the top of the banneton and turn it over so the dough is now sitting on top of the parchment paper
Use a bread lame and make a slash, about 1/2-inch deep at 45 degree angles on the dough, kinda off-center a bit. Mist the dough with water. This creates nice crackling all around the crust later

Baking:

Wear a mitten and carefully get the Dutch oven pot and its lid out from the oven and place one baking sheet on the lowest rack and quickly but carefully close the oven's door back to prevent too much heat loss. This helps to prevent the bottom crust of your bread from being too thick and tough
Carefully load the dough by lifting the parchment paper and lower it into the pot or the combo cooker. Close the lid. Open the oven door again and carefully transfer the pot into the oven again and close the oven door. Lower the temperature to 450 F (230 C) and bake for 35 minutes. I added 5 minutes extra since this loaf has soakers added
After 35 minutes remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Transfer the half-baked bread to a regular baking sheet and put this back inside the oven. Again, this is to help create a nice thin crust all around
Lower the oven temperature to 425 F (220 C) and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the bread halfway during this second portion of baking
After 10 minutes, turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly to let the hot air out and let the bread sit in the oven for 20 minutes. This helps to "cure" the bread without overcooking it, so the inside won't be wet and gummy

Cooling down:

After that, get the bread out of the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack immediately and now comes the hardest part! You need to wait for at least 3-4 hours or longer before you slice it. If you slice into warm bread, you will end up with gummy crumbs

Store:

Once the bread has cooled down completely, you can store it in a bread box if you plan to consume it in the next few days. You can also put it inside a paper bag
For longer storage, you can wrap the whole loaf or sliced bread in plastic wrap and then put inside a freezer bag. Push all the air out and seal. It can be kept frozen for 1-2 months. Simply thaw at room temperature before serving and then reheat them in toaster or air-fryer. Most toasters these days can toast frozen sliced bread. So you may not even need to thaw it completely

Video

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